Can Others Monitor an Adult Without His or Her Knowledge?
Full Question:
Answer:
The answer will depend on the type of monitoring involved. Wiretap information may be kept confidential. Invasion of privacy is the intrusion into the personal life of another, without just cause, which can give the person whose privacy has been invaded a right to bring a lawsuit for damages against the person or entity that intruded. It encompasses workplace monitoring, Internet privacy, data collection, and other means of disseminating private information. A non-public individual has a right to privacy from: a) intrusion on one's solitude or into one's private affairs; b) public disclosure of embarrassing private information; c) publicity which puts him/her in a false light to the public; d) appropriation of one's name or picture for personal or commercial advantage.
The federal and state statutes that govern eavesdropping require interception of a conversation. The "interception" of a "private communication" is not merely listening to a private communication but includes the means used to "acquire" the "private communication". “Intercept” means to acquire the contents of any wire, electronic, or oral communication through the use of any electronic, mechanical, or other device. If the person is intercepting a private conversation, the federal law provides an exemption if done under the with the terms of a court order, statutory authorization, or certification under federal wiretapping law.
Please see the following Iowa statutes:
727.8 Electronic and mechanical eavesdropping.
Any person, having no right or authority to do so, who taps into or connects a listening or recording device to any telephone or other communication wire, or who by any electronic or mechanical means listens to, records, or otherwise intercepts a conversation or communication of any kind, commits a serious misdemeanor; provided, that the sender or recipient of a message or one who is openly present and participating in or listening to a communication shall not be prohibited hereby from recording such message or communication; and further provided, that nothing herein shall restrict the use of any radio or television receiver to receive any communication transmitted by radio or wireless signal.
808B.2 Unlawful acts — penalty.
1. Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter, a
person who does any of the following commits a class "D" felony:
a. Willfully intercepts, endeavors to intercept, or procures any other
person to intercept or endeavor to intercept, a wire, oral, or electronic
communication.
b. Willfully uses, endeavors to use, or procures any other person to
use or endeavor to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to
intercept any oral communication when either of the following applies:
(1) The device is affixed to, or otherwise transmits a signal through,
a wire, cable, or other like connection used in wire communication.
(2) The device transmits communications by radio, or interferes with
the transmission of radio communications.
c. Willfully discloses, or endeavors to disclose, to any other
person the contents of a wire, oral, or electronic communication,
knowing or having reason to know that the information was obtained
through the interception of a wire, oral, or electronic communication
in violation of this subsection.
d. Willfully uses, or endeavors to use, the contents of a wire,
oral, or electronic communication, knowing or having reason to know
that the information was obtained through the interception of a wire,
oral, or electronic communication in violation of this subsection.
2. a. It is not unlawful under this chapter for an operator of
a switchboard, or an officer, employee, or agent of a communications
common carrier, whose facilities are used in the transmission of a wire
communication, to intercept, disclose, or use that communication in the
normal course of employment while engaged in an activity which is a
necessary incident to the rendition of service or to the protection of
the rights or property of the carrier of the communication. However,
communications common carriers shall not use service observing or
random monitoring except for mechanical or service quality control
checks.
b. It is not unlawful under this chapter for a person acting under
color of law to intercept a wire, oral, or electronic communication, if
the person is a party to the communication or one of the parties to the
communication has given prior consent to the interception.
c. It is not unlawful under this chapter for a person not acting under
color of law to intercept a wire, oral, or electronic communication if
the person is a party to the communication or if one of the parties to
the communication has given prior consent to the interception, unless the
communication is intercepted for the purpose of committing a criminal or
tortious act in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United
States or of any state or for the purpose of committing any other
injurious act.
3. An operator of a switchboard, or an officer, employee, or agent of a
communications common carrier, whose facilities are used in the
transmission or interception of a wire, oral, or electronic communication
shall not disclose the existence of any transmission or interception or
the device used to accomplish the transmission or interception with
respect to a court order under this chapter, except as may otherwise be
required by legal process or court order. Violation of this subsection is
a class "D" felony.
808B.1 Definitions.
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. "Aggrieved person" means a person who was a party to an intercepted
wire, oral, or electronic communication or a person against whom the
interception was directed.
2. "Contents", when used with respect to a wire, oral, or electronic
communication, includes any information concerning the identity of the
parties to the communication or the existence, substance, purpose, or
meaning of that communication.
3. "Court" means a district court in this state.
4. "Electronic communication" means any transfer of signals, signs,
writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in
whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic or
photooptical system that affects intrastate, interstate, or foreign
commerce, but excludes the following:
a. Wire or oral communication.
b. Communication made through a tone-only paging device.
c. Communication from a tracking device.
d. Electronic funds transfer information stored by a financial
institution in a communication system used for the electronic storage and
transfer of funds.
5. "Electronic, mechanical, or other device" means a device or apparatus
which can be used to intercept a wire, oral, or electronic communication
other than either of the following:
a. A telephone or telegraph instrument, equipment, or facility, or any
component of it which is either of the following:
(1) Furnished to the subscriber or user by a communications common
carrier in the ordinary course of its business and being used by the
subscriber or user in the ordinary course of the subscriber's or user's
business.
(2) Being used by a communications common carrier in the ordinary course
of its business, or by an investigative or law enforcement officer in the
ordinary course of the officer's duties.
b. A hearing aid or similar device being used to correct subnormal
hearing to not better than normal hearing.
6. "Intercept" or "interception" means the aural acquisition of the
contents of a wire, oral, or electronic communication through the use of an
electronic, mechanical, or other device.
7. "Investigative or law enforcement officer" means a peace officer of
this state or one of its political subdivisions or of the United States
who is empowered by law to conduct investigations of or to make arrests
for criminal offenses, the attorney general, or a county attorney
authorized by law to prosecute or participate in the prosecution of
criminal offenses.
8. "Oral communication" means an oral communication uttered by a person
exhibiting an expectation that the communication is not subject to
interception, under circumstances justifying that expectation. An "oral
communication" does not include an electronic communication.
9. "Pen register" means a device or process which records or decodes
dialing, routing, addressing, or signaling information, but not the
contents of the communication, transmitted by an instrument or facility
from which a wire or electronic communication is transmitted. "Pen
register" does not include any device or process used by a provider or
customer of a wire or electronic communication service for billing, or
recording as an incident to billing, for communications services provided
by such provider or any device or process used by a provider or customer of
a wire communication service for cost accounting or other like purposes in
the ordinary course of its business.
10. "Special state agent" means a sworn peace officer member of the
department of public safety.
11. "Trap and trace device" means a device or process which captures the
incoming electronic or other impulses which identify the originating number
or other dialing, routing, addressing, and signaling information reasonably
likely to identify the source of a wire or electronic communication, but
does not capture the contents of any communication.
12. "Wire communication" means any aural transfer made in whole or in
part through the use of facilities for the transmission of communications
by the aid of wire, cable, or other like connection between the point of
origin and the point of reception, including the use of such connection in
a switching station, furnished or operated by any person engaged in
providing or operating such facilities for the transmission of interstate
or foreign communications or communications affecting interstate or foreign
commerce.
